Layouts and Work Methods for Wool Warehouses

Excerpts from the report: In 1963 there were about 238 million pounds of wool shorn from approximately 27.8 million sheep in this country. The sales value of this wool is estimated at $115 million. Approximately 190 warehouses throughout the country handle this wool. Many wool warehouses are outmoded multistory buildings, originally constructed for other purposes. Few were planned and constructed with the benefit of technical assistance. As a result, the arrangement of storage and work areas in most warehouses does not provide for a direct flow of wool into, through, and out of the warehouse, with a minimum of handling. The operations analyzed in this report and the layouts developed are based on warehouses of three sizes: One with a capacity of 500,000 pounds of wool, one with a capacity of 1 million pounds, and one with a capacity of 2 million pounds of wool. The capacity of a warehouse, as used in this report, includes all bagged ungraded wool, loose graded fleeces, and graded wool packaged in bags or bales. One capacity turnover per year was assumed, although some warehouses handle less than their capacity during a year and others may handle several times their capacity.